


The Next One

by Wiz_is_bored



Category: Black Friday - Team StarKid, Hatchetfield Universe - Team StarKid, The Guy Who Didn't Like Musicals - Team StarKid
Genre: Angst, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-21
Updated: 2020-10-21
Packaged: 2021-03-08 18:09:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27140891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wiz_is_bored/pseuds/Wiz_is_bored
Summary: while staying in a hostel in Guatemala Emma gets a phone call from her brother-in-law
Comments: 3
Kudos: 17





	The Next One

The thing about being a backpacker is that communication can be difficult. Emma has, in the past, gone weeks without a single bar of phone signal. Most of the time she doesn’t mind this; she’s never been much of an extrovert. If she wanted human interaction she wouldn’t be thousands of miles from everyone she’s ever known on a solo hiking trip. But there’s been times when she’s arrived at a hostel with serviceable phone reception to find a series of missed calls waiting for her, all from Jane. Always from Jane. She sometimes feels bad that her sister tries so hard to get in contact with her, and most of the time the only reply she has is some variation of ‘I’ll catch the next one!’

“Sorry, don’t have the funds to get back to Michigan right now, I’ll catch the next one!”

“Sorry, I’m  _ way  _ too far away from any form of reliable transport, I’ll catch the next one!”

“Sorry, I actually managed to get a job and I can’t get time off, I’ll catch the next one!”

Always the next one.

So it’s not too surprising when she gets to the next hostel, flops onto her bed and pulls out her phone to find 18 missed calls. It’s probably her sister again, with some new social event that Emma will have to find an excuse to avoid. What  _ is  _ surprising is the contact that they came from.

**18 missed calls from tom (janes guy)**

Her brow furrows. She can’t remember one example of conversation she’s had with Tom. She can’t even remember when or why she got his phone number. Why the hell would he want to get a hold of her so bad? Surely Jane would have called her if something was going on with them. But before she can ponder this for too long the phone buzzes in her hand.

**Incoming Call**

**tom (janes guy)**

After a moment of hesitation, she answers.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Emma, it’s Tom, I… I’ve been trying to call you for… what, two weeks now?”

“Yeah, sorry, reception isn’t great around here. What was it about?”

“It’s…” he sighs. “Fuck, it’s… It’s Jane, Emma. She… She’s dead.”

Cold floods the woman’s system. Her breath catches in her throat. Somewhere in the distance Tom is talking about an intersection and a car crash. She barely hears him. She just stares at the peeling paint on the wall.

“...Do you think you can make it out?”

“Huh?”

He sighs again. “I know you’ve had trouble getting back before, and I’m sorry it’s short notice. I’ll pay for transport, you can crash on the couch if you want, I just… she’d have wanted you at her funeral.”

There’s silence for a moment. Emma’s mouth is dry. She swallows as the inevitable tears well up in her eyes. “Yeah. Yeah, I’ll be there.”

After all, it’s not like she can just catch the next one.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading :)


End file.
